A senior osteopath has been struck off after he encouraged a female patient to try an ‘open marriage’.
Oliver Curties developed ‘intimate feelings’ for the woman he treated for four years and made sexually inappropriate comments before twice kissing her without consent, an employment tribunal heard.
The director at a ‘wellness clinic’ – who is married and claimed to be a ‘family man’ – also asked his patient ‘how hard do you want it?’ while using a vibrating massage device in between her legs, a panel was told.
Curties, who has been in the care industry for more than 30 years, also sent her a ‘suggestive’ invite to his hotel room when he was staying there alone, the tribunal heard.
The General Osteopathic Council removed Curties’ licence following the tribunal after it ruled his pursuit of a sexual relationship was a ‘gross abuse of his position of trust’.
Senior osteopath Oliver Curties has been struck off after he encouraged a female patient to try an ‘open marriage’
In 2014 Curties, a former nurse who qualified as an osteopath in 2003, founded the Westbourne Osteopathic and Wellness Clinic, in the West Sussex village of Westbourne, where sessions cost up to £80.
He began treating the woman, named only as ‘Patient A’ at the tribunal, in 2016 until 2020.
Curties and his wife met in 2016. They were married in 2018, as the panel heard.
His wife and two female patients gave testimonials at his tribunal, with the osteopath, who has two step-daughters, claiming he is a ‘family man’ who was ‘stressed’.
The tribunal heard Curties developed feelings for the woman and, after learning her marriage was unstable, tried to take her into the ‘realms of sexual relationship’.
During the course of his care, the panel was told, he asked her to ‘bend over’, told her to take her ‘clothes off’, touched her stomach, groin and chest, and turned her head to look at him.
They went swimming together outside of his treatment and he frequently texted her, with one message saying ‘so you’re free then’ to suggest she visit him at his hotel room, the tribunal heard.
Curties’ wife and two female patients gave testimonials at his tribunal, with the osteopath, who has two step-daughters, claiming he is a ‘family man’ who was ‘stressed’
Using a massage device, Curties inappropriately pushed the woman’s legs apart and used it on ‘intimate’ areas on her inner thigh, the panel was told, asking if it was ‘weird’ and ‘how hard do you want it?’
At the start of 2020, Curties suggested she ‘consider an open marriage’ because he ‘wanted’ it, the tribunal heard.
The tribunal reported that he was not motivated solely by the ability to help her, nor because he considered her a friend.
‘In the Committee’s view, he was now motivated at least in part to pursue an intimate relationship with her.’
Curties kissed twice Patient A as a result of his suggestion. The panel was then told.
Patient A stated: “He bent his head and kissed me on the lips. Then he said “there”, like he was saying “there we are”.
“He stood to my right beside the bed I was on treatment.
She said that he had kissed her once more as she was leaving the consultation.
“He tried to kiss my lips,” Patient A stated.
I moved my head toward the side. However, my arms were still under his arms. With his left hand, he lifted my head by my hair and turned me to him. Then he gave me a kiss on my cheek.
The tribunal found Curties ‘either derived sexual gratification from kissing her in this way or, having learned that her marriage was unstable, he acted with a view to taking the friendship, as he perceived it, into the realms of a sexual relationship with her’.
The tribunal concluded Curties was ‘sexually motivated’ in his conduct.
The hearing was told the woman had knee, hip and back pains and was ‘vulnerable’ due to mental health issues she suffered.
Curties, a former nurse who qualified as an osteopath in 2003, founded the Westbourne Osteopathic and Wellness Clinic (pictured), in the West Sussex village of Westbourne, where sessions cost up to £80
Chairman of the panel AlastairCannon said that Curties, who had been in an intimate relationship to a patient with vulnerability, used a masseuse on her in sexualized ways and tried repeatedly to kiss her.
“These cases were a gross misuse of his position in trust.
“The Committee deemed that the findings collectively showed a significant departure from osteopath standards.
‘The Committee’s findings demonstrated that, in summary, Curties had transgressed appropriate professional boundaries with a vulnerable patient and had not acted in her best interests.
“He did so without consent, had performed treatment for the two last appointments which didn’t seem to have a therapeutic purpose and was not part of any justifiable treatment program.
“Most importantly, he was sexually motivated in certain of his actions and had behaved sexually with his patient.”
The General Osteopathic Council’s Professional Conduct Committee found Curties ‘presented a continuing risk to other vulnerable patients’ and that ‘his sexualised conduct and transgression of boundaries’ was, in its view, ‘fundamentally incompatible with his continued registration as an osteopath’.
Curties’ name has been removed from the Register of osteopaths, and he is now unable to practice as an osteopath.
Curties have 28 days to appeal against the decision.